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It’s clicks, not cliques, at online schools

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By Lawrene Calder Trump, Staff Writer 9:20 PM Saturday, February 5, 2011

SPRINGFIELD — Through a week of snow days, sixth-grader Zechariah Byrd trudged to class every day — down the basement steps to the computer desk in his Kenwood Avenue home.

Byrd attends Ohio Connections Academy, one of a burgeoning number of online schools offering a free public education in-home, with the use of a computer, netbook, textbooks plus state-certified teachers and curriculum.

Zechariah’s parents, Vonnie and Antonio Byrd, enrolled him in Connections Academy as a kindergartner after he came home from pre-school in a huff.

“We just played the whole time. We didn’t do colors, or numbers or anything,” his mother recalled him saying.

The Byrds attended a presentation at the library and were impressed with the curriculum and flexibility of online schools.

“We’ve gone on vacation, and he hasn’t missed a day of class. We just take the netbook and there it is,” Vonnie Byrd said.

School starts at about 8:30 a.m. every day, and Zechariah spends three hours in front of the computer, including two hours of live lessons each day.

Teachers write on a white-board the students can see, and a chat box in the corner of the screen lets students participate and see one another’s comments. They also use a phone line to hear the teacher and each other.

Ohio Connections Academy has more than 2,700 students, spokeswoman Heidi May said.

Connections Academy has schools in 21 states.

Snow days are never a problem. Disruptions last only as long as the power is out, and even then “they can go to a Borders or Starbucks for internet connection,” May said.

As for the oft-cited criticism that online schools lack in socializing students, proponents say anyone who sees the top of their kid’s head more than their face knows that kids have no qualms with electronic communication.

Vonnie Byrd is studying for her teaching certificate and is considering doing her teaching online.

“We ask him every year, do you want to go to public school? And he says, ‘Nah,’” she said.

Zechariah turned from his current-events lesson and chimed in, “I’m learning stuff she’s learning in college.”

Lessons are tailored to a student’s ability and interest. A precocious child can race through his favorite subject, and even take college-level courses in some areas.

Springfield High School has its own digital academy, ATEC, focused primarily on credit recovery, but some students use it to accelerate through a grade or class.

“We have an eighth-grader taking advanced Mandarin Chinese online in her middle school — and earning high school credit,” said Kim Fish, Springfield City School District spokeswoman.

The district won two grants last year to extend online offerings, and now offers advanced placement and foreign-language courses not offered elsewhere in the area, she said.

“Having the online program housed within our schools gives our students the best of both worlds, helping them customize their education and still socialize,” Fish said.

One of Connection Academy’s teachers is Springfield North graduate Jackie (Nickels) Shellabarger, whose dad, Larry Nickels, was North principal during the 1990s. He now runs the agency that coordinates Urbana City Schools’ online students.

Internet use was a novelty in the classroom when Shellabarger graduated in 2000.

“The difference between now and then is crazy, how fast it’s growing,” she said. “Seeing how rewarding my dad’s work was, I knew I wanted to teach,” and opportunities for online teachers are increasing.

Shellabarger does fourth-grade intervention, specializing with small-group lessons for kids who have special needs such as attention deficit disorder or Asperger’s syndrome.

“Those kids don’t do well in that traditional brick-and-mortar school because there are too many influences, too much stimulation to focus,” she said.

Teachers can have 60 to 70 kids in a class, each one signed into a chat room where they can instant-message one another.

One of the advantages of online learning is that discipline problems are nearly nonexistent, Shellabarger said

Shellabarger was a Reading First tutor in the Springfield City Schools before moving to Cincinnati, where the academy’s regional office is.

“I like both, but I don’t think I would ever leave online teaching. I love the very personalized relationship I’ve been able to make with the parents and students,” she said. “I’ve seen my students’ confidence really thrive with the flexibility and independence.”

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